An example of a female connector, shown in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-257187 is described below with reference to FIG. 17. When the female terminal 3 is inserted into the cavity 2 formed in the female housing 1, the female terminal 3 is primarily locked in an unremovable state by the lance 4 formed on the bottom wall of the cavity 2. Thereafter the retainer 5 is pressed into the flexible space 6 of the lance 4 to doubly lock the female terminal 3 by regulating the elastic deformation of the female terminal 3.
The terminal insertion opening 7 is formed on the front wall 2A of the cavity 2. The tapered guide surface 8 is formed on the peripheral edge of the terminal insertion opening 7. When the female housing 1 accommodating the female terminal 3 and the mating male housing are fit on each other, the tab of the mating male terminal is inserted straight into the terminal insertion opening 7 while the male terminal is guided by the guide surface 8, if necessary. Thus, the male terminal and the female terminal 3 are connected to each other.
A jig insertion opening 9 that reaches the lance 4 is formed on the front wall 2A of the cavity 2. When the female terminal 3 is pulled out from the cavity 2 for maintenance, the retainer 5 is returned to the position shown in FIG. 17A. Then a jig is inserted into the cavity 2 from the jig insertion opening 9 so that the lance 4 caught by the jig is forcibly elastically deformed into the flexible space 6. As a result, the female terminal 3 is unlocked from the lance 4. Thus the female terminal 3 can be pulled out from the cavity 2 by pulling an electric wire W.
In order to form the jig insertion opening 9 to unlock the female terminal in the connector, the jig insertion opening 9 is formed by cutting off a part (lower side) of the peripheral edge of the terminal insertion opening 7 in compliance with demands for miniaturization of the female housing 1.
In this case, the guide surface 8 of the female terminal 3 is not formed on the entire peripheral edge of the terminal insertion opening 7. Thus there is a possibility that depending on the inclination direction of the tab of the male terminal, the male terminal tab will not be guided properly. The tab may strike an unnecessary portion of the female terminal 3 or pierce the side wall of the jig insertion opening 9.
Still other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following specification.